SECTION: SPORTS; Pg. B6; TOP OF THE SIXTH

LENGTH: 415 words

HEADLINE: TOP OF THE SIXTH

BYLINE: Tom FitzGerald

BODY:
A FRESH APPROACH

FOR FOOTBALL COACHES

There's a team in Australian Rules football that practiced its pants off the other day.

The Bungaree country team in the Victoria state had been on a losing streak, so coach Peter Schiltz ordered his team to run a lap in the nude -- except for boots and socks -- in 35-degree weather. Then came a 10-minute ball-control drill. Schiltz said the players were starting to enjoy themselves. ''I actually had to tell them to get their gear back on,'' he said.

The only witness was the team's female trainer. She remained fully clothed throughout the session.

''Something needed to be done to lift our spirits and liven up training,'' Schiltz said. ''I was looking for a bit of inspiration.''

We don't know whether he found it, but Bungaree lost its next match to Hepburn.

THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT: Annett Juhnke, who works for the Japanese government in Hakuba, near Nagano, site of the 1998 Winter Olympics: ''If you really decide to come here as a spectator, you'd better expect chaos; that's my advice.''

* Phillies outfielder Gregg Jefferies let a fly ball bounce over his head in the ninth inning Sunday. Said Jefferies: ''I almost got through a game without getting booed.''

* ''If they really want to punish Barry Switzer,'' says the Cutler Daily Scoop, ''they'd make him coach the Jets.''

* Johnnie Cochran plans to become a sports agent, and agent Keith Glass wishes him luck. ''But I wonder what happens when he realizes that some of these kids he has to deal with will make O. J. Simpson look like Mother Teresa.''

LOOKING AT THE BRIGHT SIDE: Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, after rupturing a biceps tendon in his throwing arm in the first quarter of the exhibition game in Mexico City: ''At least, I didn't get sick here.''

* ''There are people I've signed 200 autographs for, I guarantee you, just here at camp,'' Elway said, before hurting his arm. ''That's when you know you're getting old -- when you're starting to re-sign things because the ink has faded.''

* Jack McKeon, interim manager of the Cincinnati Reds, on a home run Florida's Bobby Bonilla hit on an 0-2 pitch from the Reds' Mike Morgan: ''Mike Morgan's split didn't split, other than split right out of the ballpark.''

* Tim Brown, a member of the ''Bleacher Creatures,'' a group of zany fans that inhabit the bleachers at Yankee Stadium and hassle opposing players: ''A guy would be better off in a negligee coming up that catwalk than a Tigers cap.''

LOAD-DATE: August 8, 1997